This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. Primary support for the subproject and the subproject's principal investigator may have been provided by other sources, including other NIH sources. The Total Cost listed for the subproject likely represents the estimated amount of Center infrastructure utilized by the subproject, not direct funding provided by the NCRR grant to the subproject or subproject staff. BACKGROUND: Children born preterm have lower IQ and weaknesses in language and reading compared to full-term peers. White matter injury to periventricular regions is thought to be the major cause of these cognitive problems. In typically developing children, white matter matures from childhood to adolescence. OBJECTIVE: To contrast white matter microstructure in children born preterm and full term controls in relation to age, IQ, language and reading scores. METHODS: Preterms (n=19, mean age 11.9 yr) and controls (n=15, mean age = 13.4 yr) were assessed on the following: IQ (Wechsler Abbreviated Scales of Intelligence), linguistic processing speed (Test for Reception of Grammar [unreadable]Revised), verbal memory (Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals [unreadable]4th Edition), and reading decoding and passage comprehension (Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement [unreadable]3rd Edition). Four DTI acquisitions of 60, 2mm-thick slices were collected in 30 different diffusion directions (b = 900). DTI data were pre-processed with FSL Diffusion Toolbox. Tract-Based Spatial Statistics based on fractional anisotropy (FA) defined the centers of major white matter tracts throughout the brain. We evaluated group differences in the FA of these tracts and also ran correlations with age, scores, and FA. After correcting for multiple comparisons, we set p <.05. To read about other projects ongoing at the Lucas Center, please visit http://rsl.stanford.edu/ (Lucas Annual Report and ISMRM 2011 Abstracts)